[04.09.2010 Update] Hey all. Just wanted to chime in real quick and note that Blizzard has caved in and reversed its "First Name Last Name" forum policy as of 9:47 a.m. (PST) today. That's Murphy's Law: 1. Blizzard: 0...

And, officially, the winner for, "dumbest comment related to this whole mess" goes to WoW.com's Lissanna. She writes: "Blizzard taught us how to come together as a community to slay internet dragons. Sometimes, Blizzard doesn't like what internet dragons we choose to slay."

Sigh. Carry on.

[/update]

Ugh. I was all set to write this totally awesome column about how World of Warcraft's latest Real ID measures are The Lich King's gift to proper forum management, and it's just one more reflection of much of what I talk about in this weekly column--the idea that the walls are slowly lowering between our various online identities as we transition our lives into a tell-all kind of digital tale.

Of course, resident Maximum PC gaming pundit Nathan Grayson beat me to the punch. With respect to Mr. Grayson, however, I don't think that he's really covered enough ground in regards to Blizzard's announcement that any World of Warcraft players seeking to post on the company's forums will now be identified by their first and last names--the "Real ID" I speak of.

What I find most curious is that this situation blows open the various degrees of user permissibility in an open world of data. What does that mean? Simply put, there are varying levels of sharing that people are comfortable with in the digital age, and it's funny that so many are complaining about an unsheltered digital lifestyle that we're headed toward anyhow.

Consider that many of those complaining about Blizzard's Real ID service likely have no issue with a platform like Twitter or Foursquare. Users of either really have no problem putting bits of their life on display for a mass audience--information that, depending on its specificity, could be used to identify and/or harass a person in real life. Of course, you get a pseudonym, which can be a huge deterrent against those looking to learn more about you.

A little further down the line is good ol' Facebook, which increases the digital connection between real-world information and an online persona. In this case, you're you. Though you're still free to hide various elements of your life in an effort to stay under the radar, there are some people--your friends--that are going to get the full enchilada of what you're up to.

And then there are those godforsaken services like Blippr that, for some unfathomable reason, have lured a bunch of fools into sharing the very purchases they make throughout the course of their lives with anyone they want. Don't get me started on this one; suffice, it's a pretty extreme example of opening up one's life for digital archiving, analysis, and stalking. The level of detail sort of sounds like the World of Warcraft Armory, wouldn't you say?

The true shame of Blizzard's Real ID service is that it really is a super-helpful evolution that enhances the social aspect of--you guessed it--a massively multiplayer game that itself depends on social interaction to succeed. I love the fact that I can now use a Real ID to find and talk to my real-life friends, regardless of what server they're on, and develop even more connections to people-I-kind-of-know-but-not-really in one grand, relationship-building attempt life quest.

That said, I'm a dude. Given the relative maturity of World of Warcraft's player base, I do understand the fear that many have over the Real ID system. Were I a girl, as fellow Maximum PC cohort Nathan Edwards pointed out, I would never post on Blizzard's forums again; the harassment and crap just wouldn't be worth it because--as illustrated--it's far too easy to discover the various details about a person's life now that we're all connected on a spectrum of social sharing.

This is the future of gaming, don't get me wrong. The fact that I have a full social experience built into Steam, or can concatenate Xbox Live names and Facebook friends with the touch of a button... that's awesome. Simply awesome. It's a far cry from the days when I had to remember everyone's archaic combinations of words, random letters, and numbers just to find someone to play online Bomberman with.

Still, Blizzard really screwed the pooch by trying to force a social change--Real ID--under the guise of preventative maintenance--eliminating forum trolls. With so many legitimate concerns flying about, it baffles the mind why Blizzard wouldn't just want to split the difference and make Real ID an opt-in kind of a deal instead of forcing everyone to conform to lower expectations of privacy to enhance one's social awareness. I mean, how many digital friends can you really make after you've hit the "Cancel Account" button?

In order for the social dynamic of today's Web to expand, it has to come because those involved demand it, not because it's thrust upon them. When users dictate their level of involvement, awesome, connected environments emerge to strengthen our everyday bonds in new and unique ways. When companies insist on how it's going to be, however, it does nothing but hack everybody off.

Stick to defining digital rulesets and item databases, Blizzard; Let your players determine just how much of an interactive layer they want to build upon the core experience.

David Murphy (@ Acererak) is a technology journalist and former Maximum PC editor. He writes weekly columns about the wide world of open-source as well as weekly roundups of awesome, freebie software. If you befriend him on World of Warcraft, you'll learn his real name.

Comments

About 10 years ago I was open about myself on various forums. Unfortunately someone took a dislike to me. He found out my name, my address, employment, my family members. He even went so far to contact my work. This freaked me out. Since then I am very private online.

My name is unique and on google the first three hits are all about me and my wife. I was seriously considering quitting WoW when they announced this realid for their forums. I do not post often but I do ask questions. My wife has an even more unique name than me and there are so many stalkers in the game when they find out you are a female. I am glad they reversed themselves.

If I want to be social I will go to the social options on the web. I pay money for WoW to play a game. It is a multiplayer game but I don't do it for social reasons, I play for the game itself. I love to pvp and I don't want some idiot stalking me or my wife because we destroyed him.

Blizzard in other areas has made me concerned. They did the armory and talent inspection without an opt out. This causes cookie cutter builds. God help you if you try something out and people bitch at you for being a non-conformist. Now they show your activity for the past days in the armory and people can rss you. I would like to opt out of that also. What if my wife takes a sick day and plays a little while she is ill? Her boss knows her toon and commented on it when she returned to work. Nothing happened from it, he just hazed her. Blizzard makes games and people play them for the game. The social aspect is fine but please let it be an option.

Well, so much for the future of gaming. I guess the future came too soon for some people.

I liked Murph's idea. Why couldn't they have just made it an opt-in type of thing? I think it would make a lot of sense. You could give all of the people using their Real ID's their own forum area and all of the anonymous players a different area. Then again, you could end up completely dividing the WoW community into two.

I think it was an interesting idea, but I can definitely see why so many would be opposed to it. I would think that many people are different when it comes to posting anonymously online. Some people are able to express their true thoughts and feelings without worrying about any social stigma. Some people act like morons. When everyone in that forum is forced to reveal their actual idenity, I would think that people would then be able to link anything you have posted in the past to your actual identity.

I don't play WoW and I have never seen any of their forums or how they work, but how hard can it be to eliminate trolls, and people that are just there to harass others? Again, I don't play WoW, do the forums require you to have a paid subscription? I would think that if that was the case there wouldn't be very many trolls at all. I don't see who would pay to troll. Real ID or not, why couldn't they just have a no tolerance policy that would permanently ban users for trolling or harrassment?

Yes, you need a sub in order to post on the forums there. You also have to pick one of your characters as a forum avatar, although you can change that avatar to any of your characters, which can add up to alot if you spread em around multiple servers. It seems to me most of the trolls hide behind low lvl alts they gave up on, or bank alts, or even throwaway alts specifically for trolling the forums.

IMO, its the lack of moderation thats the problem. I've seen threads specifically designed to bait people get up 8+ pages and I'm not sure how many of those actually get locked or deleted rather than just fall off the first page. Yet I've also seen legitimate threads get deleted before they barely even started.

I have been online gaming for at least 12 years. I have made plenty of friends under the anonymity of the user name on the internet. When the time comes, when I meet someone online, I share my real name. I really don't like the idea of my real name right up front. There are to many idiots out there that think the game they play is real life and when you gank them, they think you are killing their kitty or something. I would really not want that person to know who I really am,,thank you very much.

Also, I have a daughter who kicks ass in CODMW2 and when she plays she never uses voice because the little wieners go into overdrive when they hear a girls voice. It is quite comical, but imagine if she had to use her real name?

I'm glad they got the point so quickly, but I do have to ask myself, didn't anyone sitting around the table when this egg was laid, not stand up and say how remarkably stupid this would sound when it hit the net? Didn't they grasp privacy concerns. Gee, I was half way through reading an article about this when I thought to myself: "Self, do they not realize the shit storm this is gonna cause."

I think it is great that people meet in on-line games then want to become friends in real-life, but with numbers of people on the net that are bat-shit crazy, I wouldn't want just anyone to have all my details. Its one thing to give your information out to someone you think you cant trust, but to have it posted for all to see....

One thing positive with actually using your real identity is it brings you closer to using a single login. Many websites now allow you log in and post using your facebook account, and blizzard's real ID system in the SCII beta (I'm not sure about WoW) allows you to find in game friends through your facebook friends.

Be real (pun intended). Games and their forums don't warrant true identification. The potential for injury should not be ignored.

Seems to me Blizzard has abdicated it's responsibility to users. They create the forums, they should clean them up. Blizzard knows who the people are who cause problems. Bar them. This is just another case of passing the buck.

"Either we conform the Truth to our desires or we conform our desires to the Truth."

Sounds like they would rather you go fight it out among yourselves rather than moderate the forum. No reason why they couldn't just ask for a login and password and keep your information in the details section in case they needed to ask you something.

I'm sure they are following the digital privacy laws and have everything locked up securely on the servers - right? <g>

I prefer how you framed this to the "Blizzard is Big Brother. They want to put you in jail." type of torches-and-pitchforks kneejerk reaction I've seen quite a bit since this announcement.

You're right. Thrusting this onto the users is wrong even if the intent is noble.

With that being said, I think the context of a video game is fine for discussion using your real name and I would not be oppposed. It's not like politics where some crazy people might stalk you and murder your dog. But then again, I take greater care than many not to share too many intimate details about myself online.

I wonder though... Are perspective employers going to see your name on the Starcraft 2 or WoW forums and think "Hmm, they play video games?! We don't want someone like that."

I don't get it. I mean my Login ID here at MPC is my whole name. I've not been attacked by mobs of fans or anything like that. On other websites I'm simply known as CaptCaveman. Like my steam account name is CaptCaveman.

But I really have no problem actually using my real name.

When it comes to being attacked in person, well here in Arizona you can carry a concealed gun without a permit however I have had my permit long before the law changed. If someone attacks me I just shoot him. That's how things get done in Arizona.

My daddy always did tell me to stand on your own two feet. Be a man. Don't be afraid of other men. Be ready for other men to try to kill you. Be prepared.

I remember reading not to long ago about someone who lost to another player in an online match for some FPS. He figured out where the guy lived. Went to his apartment, and stabbed the guy multiple times.

On the heels of something like that, I would think blizzard might hesitate to give out personal information like this. I myself wouldn't have a problem with it. I generally don't say anything that I don't truely mean. But some people's entire purpose for going on forums is to troll, cut people down, and make themselves feel more important. Those people could easily become targets for the less.... stable people playing the game. And lets not kid ourselves, there are plenty of unstable people playing WoW.

Personally though, I wish both forums and character names were linked to a real ID. When it comes to MMOs, wow players generally have no accountability. They all have so many characters with different names on different servers that a lot of them feel they can do or say whatever they want with no regard to others playing the game. It really makes it hard to play a game when you feel like everyone is out to screw you. On other MMOs I have played where your characters names are all linked to the same account players are much less likely to do or say things to grief other players. Those that do are usually well known and not trusted. You can still choose to be a griefer, but you do it knowing that you are dirtying your name and may not be trusted again.

How much harassment do you hear in the news about cyber bullying? Ok now how much harassment do you hear about normal real life stalking?

Just want to point out that the frequency that you hear or read about an issue has little to no relation to the actual preponderance of that issue. We hear more about cyber bullying in the news because it is a "hot topic" that scares the crap out of parents and gets people to click on web sites and watch news broadcasts. It does not mean that it is actually happening more than "real life stalking".

For example, remember a few summers ago when it was labeled "Shark Attack Summer?" It seemed like every week someone was getting attacked by a shark. Actual statistics showed that shark attacks were down 20% that year than the year before. You just heard about it more.